welcome to "world news." tonight, tornado terror, the system that won't let up. where it's hitting again this evening. >> and the stories now emerging. the 4-year-old ripped from a mother's arms. the miracle in the school. students huddled in the principal's office and what it's like to live in tornado ally. the race to the backyard bunker. our team across several states tonight. countdown, another state voting this evening. the clock now ticking to super tuesday. the big picture here. three things to watch for. clues who will be the nominee. hit squad. nfl team under fire. investigation, revealing players offered huge sums to get someone carted off the field. medicine mix-up. children given a powerful cancer drug by mistake. what were they supposed to get,

and how do these prescription errors happen. and we go inside the delicate mission to save the polar bear. our correspondent is there as the bear goes from star on the internet to the first stumble in the snow. good evening. it's great to have you with us this saturday night. we do begin here with the system of tornadoes that continued on its destructive path today. these pictures from indiana. another ten twisters reported across the southeast late today. the newest threat comes after those images out of the nation's heartland, that indiana high school shredded in henryville. a school bus hurled across the street and a father carrying their 9-month-old for what is left of the neighborhood. their home is gone and a survivor hugging his dog, grateful they both survived. the toll is going up. at least 38 people killed, thins injured. we're now at 108 reported

tornados from this system alone. millions of americans across 11 states from the gulf coast to ohio valley. hit by twisters and for so many, frightening sounds they will never forget. the sirens followed by those winds. our team tonight reports in from across the disaster zone. we begin with meteorologist ginger zee in henryville, indiana with late-breaking news about the twitter there and its intensity. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, david, good evening, everyone. the national weather service coming out with its rating an ef-4 tornado, winds estimated to 175 miles per hour. that makes what happened, as far as the survival, in the halls of henl henryville high, a true miracle. >> almost 100 tornadoes reported with millions of people in the path, barreling through the heartland at 70 miles per hour. the town of henryville indiana was in the crosshairs of a monster tornado. friday, 2:00 p.m., the twister

is picked up on radar, about 100 miles away. henryville high school principal troy albert makes a critical decision to release 400 students early. >> we went on the p.a. and dismissed the students about 10, 15 minutes early. warnings go out on radio and tv. >> i want you to not walk, run down into your storm shelter. students and staff hurry home. one of those school buses can't make it through the storm. and has to turn back. 11 students rush into the school taking cover in principal albert's office. >> lights went out. you can hear the wind, flashes of light. they huddle together. >> i was sitting in the office. i just saw, it was black everywhere. >> reporter: and the bus the students fled moments before the storm hit later found embedded in the wall of the restaurant across the street. >> boom! it's gone. we didn't know the bus was in here.

>> reporter: restaurant owner had taken shelter in the basement. >> we're fortunate that nobody got hurt. >> reporter: but even quick decisions, and underground shelter couldn't protect the most vulnerable. also in indiana, a 4-year-old boy was ripped from his mother's arms, as she huddled in the family's cellar. the mother survived but the child and grandparents died. >> incredible stories. ginger, i know you've been tracking the latest radar. i want to put it on the audience tonight. we have some good news to report there. >> reporter: yes, the threat is all about over. the cold front almost through, and that system that gave us such problems for the last 48 hours is vinylly making its way off into the atlantic later tonight. >> those tornado watches called off moments ago. ginger thank you for your reporting through all of this.

three hours to the east where she's standing, they are picking up what is left of their town in west liberty, kentucky. look at this car. tripped over. town all but wiped out by two tornados that hit that one town alone. abc's matt gutman is there. matt. >> reporter: good evening, what used to be the municipal building here in west liberty, take a walk with me. that was a police cruiser just before this giant tornado came right down main street and seemed to dump all of the contents of the stores right out on the streets. sacking the police department. city hall. those very police officers right now are still working on the rescue operation. sometimes words can describe this kind of devastation. >> this is a town killer. >> reporter: that twister turning main street west liberty into what looked like a war zone, city hall, a police station, sacked. astoundingly, only four people killed in margin county, but more than a dozen others killed as tornadoes ripped across this state.

>> about a mile and a half, two miles through town. >> reporter: this is main street before. and today, rescuers cut through debris. car, parts of elevator shafts and fallen power lines to get into town, evacuating it entirely, continuing the search throughout the day and declaring martial laucht >> we felt the draft. we heard things leaving here, we felt the draft. we didn't know it took off the back of the building. >> reporter: this morning, picking up what's left and taking stock. >> we built the business and have been busy since we opened the door. >> reporter: rooted here, they, like their neighbors are moving on. david, we took a couple steps to show you the guardrail wrapped around the power pole. the search and rescue operation will probably continue for another 12 to 24 hours. we've seen lots of search dogs. the debris removal will take longer than that. the folks here are determined to rebuild. david.

>> matt gutman, thanks to you as well. so many people that live in the path of these tornadoes, fear is a way of live. building bunkers in the backyard, knowing the number it takes to get there from the house. when the sirens go off and when the warning goes in. abc's steve osunsami from alabama tonight. >> reporter: for the families who survived these awful scenes, those blaring sirens were certainly helpful but on yarborough road in harvest, alabama. where every family here is recovering from the second tornado in less than a year. >> it's an alert. it's an alert. >> reporter: -- what made the difference were the weather alerts that lit up their cell phones. >> if we haven't had the phone service, because we had no power, no remote radio or anything like that. the only thing we had were our phones. >> reporter: those alerts gave families enough time to run, in this case, 60 steps to the shelter that saved their lives. they registered their cell phones online.

saf-t-net, nixel. are just two of the services. any working cell phone was buzzing with constant warnings. >> it could save our life sometime. >> reporter: today we saw storm shelters for sale, between $3,000 and $5,000. >> if it comes to it, you would be standing shoulder to shoulder like sardine. >> reporter: brothers cody and tyler stewart said they'll break the bank to buy one. >> it doesn't matter. last time it came through. whenever we have the money. no, we're getting it even if we go in debt. >> reporter: one woman said what happened felt like salt being poured into the open wound. their advice for the rest of the region this tornado season, you can never be too prepared. david. >> steve osunsami, thank you to you. i want to turn to our science in all of this. let's bring in our weather expert from noaa tonight. paul, you were tracking these all night. you were telling me the time these tornadoes were on the ground stunned you most. >> they were on the ground a

long time. we call them long track tornadoes. some could have been on the ground 20 miles or more. in addition to being on the ground, they were very intense. ef-2s, 3s and 4s are exceptionally wide as well. so anywhere between a quarter to a mile wide. >> 175 tornadoes just since the beginning of the year, and we're only march 3rd at this point. what is the worst of the season typically? >> the peak in tornado season, in the united states usually occurs if the late april to early may time frame. we still have a long way to go to even reach the peak of the season. >> all right. paul, our thanks to you and our coverage of the weather for tonight. we'll move on to politics now, your voice, your vote. tonight the all-out push until super tuesday. and those ten states up for grabs. first, this evening, the voting in washington state. the caucuses there today. 43 delegates at stake. david kerley is tracking it all. >> good evening. if evangelicals show up. santorum could do well. as those republicans were arriving at their caucuses today, three of the candidates were already half a country

away, trying to grab the big prize up for grabs on tuber tuesday. >> reporter: while ron paul greeted voters. gingrich, santorum and romney sprinted into ohio. >> get out and vote on tuesday. thank you so much. >> super tuesday. ten states voting. and romney seems to have a spring in his step in ohio, closing the gap on santorum. >> obviously, if i got the nod from the people of ohio, that would send a big statement. >> romney knows his opponent has a problem. santorum didn't fill out all of the paperwork in ohio. more than a quarter. up to 18 of ohio's delegates could be out of reach. romney's campaign jumped out of state. calling into question the ability to run an organized campaign. >> gingrich joined in two. >> we have a number of places we've filed delegates and others haven't. so we have a chance to actually pick up a pretty good number of delegates. >> santorum tried to brush it all off. >> yes, that's okay.

if that's the only thing that they find is a problem with my candidacy, we're in pretty good shape. >> just two days of campaigning left with ten states to cover. candidates picking places where they think they can pick up votes, except for newt gingrich who is doing talk shows tomorrow and then taking sunday off, david. >> david kerley tonight. thanks. i want to bring in our political analyst matt dowd for the big picture, looking beyond washington. you say three things to watch for. super tuesday, 437 delegates at stake. ten states but looking at one in particular. >> go back to the midwest. david. first thing to watch is ohio. it's the place, not michigan, in the midwest. a key battleground for the election. if rick santorum can win that, he's got life back in his candidacy, if mitt romney wins, it begins the process. >> the real hunt for the republicans. let's go to the delegate count. mitt romney ahead of the delegate count. you say if he picks up just one

southern state that helps seal the deal. >> that's the interesting thing. he has not been able to win until he has strength where a lot of republicans are. take a look at the map. place i would look for that night. tuesday night is tennessee. that's the place mitt romney has a chance to win. >> he apparently agrees. he's going to tennessee as well as georgia. i bring up georgia, because it's make or break there, for the candidate we haven't been talking about much lately. >> it's the place newt gingrich can get his candidacy back to life. he can become the non-mitt romney back in this race and continue this election process. >> matt, stay tuned. thanks to yo diane and george will be in election headquarters throughout the night tuesday. a reminder tomorrow morning on "this week" newt gingrich and david axelrod and our power house political "roundtable" that includes matt dowd. that's "this week" with george first thing in the morning here. >> in the meantime. a developing story. rush limbaugh apologizing for calling a law school student a, quote, slut. sand flu testified before

congress about the medical insurance to cover contraceptives. he triggered a firestorm. late tonight he issued a statement saying he chose the wrong words. we're turning to a pharmacy mixup. an error that has worried parents, asking how could this happen. a cvs drug store mistakenly gave dozens of children a potent cancer drug instead of a prescription they were supposed to get. >> meet 4-year-old michael. >> where did you get your flu shot? >> right at that doctor. >> michael's mom relies on her chatham new jersey cvs for flu shots to presumptions. but little does she know, her local pharmacy has made some big mistakes. >> if i would have known that, there's no way i'd be here right now. >> parents who thought they were picking up flouride pills were actually getting that tamoxifen. a powerful breast cancer drug.

>> what's that like, ch chemotherapy? >> it's similar to chemo therapy. it's more toxic than a fluoride vitamin. >> the only way to catch the mistake is with a trained pharmacist. but here, somehow the mix-up went on undetected for at least two months, exposing more and more kids. >> i would be furious. to be extra vigilant about pills for your family, pharmacist says visit websites at the national institute of health. where you can check the numbers engraved on the pills to make sure they match. >> cvs says they are deeply story about the mistake, and so far no reports of kids getting sick but there's the case of the mother who kept telling her kid to take the pills despite a bitter taste. she said she's so sick to her stomach over it all, that she

doesn't want to speak out publicly. >> she's trying to do the right thing but you can understand her sadness. >> thanks, very much. there's it still more ahead. nfl players were paid thousands of dollars to take out names on the field that you'll recognize. also ahead, prince harry on the first official assignment for the queen. bob woodruff with the story this evening. and later, what could be the cutest polar bear cub on the planet right now. the beloved bear takes the first steps in the snow. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles for up to 16 hours of relief. that's 8 hours while you wear it, plus an additional 8 hours of relief after you take it off. can your patch, wrap, cream or rub say that? so if you've got pain... get up to 16 hours of pain relief with thermacare.

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the nfl is blowing the whistle on the new orleans saints tonight saying the team paid players big money to inflict game-ending injuries on their opponents. here's abc's chris bury now. >> reporter: this is what they mean by welcome to the nfl. but the new orleans saints are accused of paying cash to hurt opposing players. >> you are paying players to hurt people, to hit people. it's definitely out of bounds. >> the bounty sounds like mafia hits. $1,000 if the opponent is carted off. $1500 if knocked out of the game even more to sideline stars like brett favre. a $10,000 bounty in this 2010 championship game. >> now he's even more of a target. >> reporter: cold cash for hits like this against arizona quarterback kurt warner. >> it seemed that they went

beyond what was normal in regards to when they were going to hit me or how they were going to hit me. >> reporter: the alleged mastermind, gregg williams now with st. louis. in a statement, he apologizes. a terrible mistake, we knew it was wrong. the former player, saying paying for pain is not so rare. the washington redskins is also under investigation. >> hit coming from bowen, and he knocks it out. >> it happens in multiple clubs. it is an ugly tradition, i will say that. >> reporter: the saints face stiff nfl sanctions, a blow to the toast of new orleans after katrina. a team the league charges paid not only to hit but to hurt. chris bury, abc news, chicago. >> more to come on that story. when we come back, prince harry on assignment for the queen. we're right there with him. i love that my daughter's part fish.

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>> reporter: meet siku, the unbearably cute baby polar bear. [ screaming ] he may look like a stuffed animal, but he is very much alive. >> reporter: and crawling like mad. and watch this. siku's a little wobbly, but so ready to stand on his own four feet. with siku around the clock is frank vigh-larsen, director of the scandinavian wildlife park here in northern denmark where siku lives. >> this is the stage you start to learn what the world is all about. >> reporter: these grainy images show the day he was born here in late november. within hours it was clear there was a problem. siku's mother, iika, had lost two previous cubs because she couldn't produce milk. [ crying ] this time, park staff were ready. they tranquilized iika and removed a frightened, hungry little polar bear from her den. it was simply a mission to save the baby bear, but when these staggeringly sweet pictures landed on the internet, siku became an overnight celebrity around the world.

polar bears are the first species to become endangered because of global warming. >> they catch all their food from the sea ice. if the sea ice disappears, they are unable to feed. >> reporter: siku seems oblivious. focused on his next meal and getting up on those lumbering paws and walking. like the big bear he's wants to be. for now, he sleeps with his keepers and his stuffed polar bear. >> he has a temper there. >> reporter: and before we leave siku, we've got some breaking news. him, siku got up on his feet and took his first steps if the snow. >> i'm jeffery kofman, denmark. >> don't touch his stuffed bear. "gma" in the morning. good night.